No preview/thumbnail in PowerPivot Gallery...

Question

Hi,

 

I've installed PP RTM on Sharepoint 2010, everything's working fine, except that I've got no preview on the Excel files in the PP Gallery (just an ugly blue icon).

Excel Services is configured to trust the location, as written in MSDN.

Is there a service to configure?

---

François Jehl - Consultant - Paris, France

Answer 1

Francois, we'll get someone to look at this. Thanks!

Answer 2

Hi, Francois,

Have you got chance to go over the following blog by AS product team listing the possible causes for not able to generate the snapshot (preview) for your workbook

http://powerpivotgeek.com/troubleshooting/gallery-specific-issues/

Please let us know if you still have question after look at the above blog.

Thanks!

Lisa

Answer 3

I also have this problem with a fresh install of SharePoint 2010 RTM.  I've read the blog above, confirmed Excel services are running, but I'm not seeing any sign of this GetSnapshot.exe attempting to run.  I've looked all over for a Gemini.log and found nothing.   I've looked in the ULS logs, and downloaded stefan gordon' ULS viewer looking for a message the relates to Gemini or Getsnapshot - nothing.

The blog above basically says I should see a getsnapshot.exe run when I edit the properties of a document - I don't see that.  What am i supposed to do when getsnapshot.exe isn't even firing off?

Answer 4

I am experiencing the same issue with a fresh install of SharePoint 2010 RTM, excel services is running and Getsnapshot.exe does not appear when I edit the document.

Answer 5

I have a similar issue.  Two Powerpivot sheets stored on my Sharepoint 2010 RTM site.

 

One renders a snapshot image, the other a red x over the blue image.

Answer 6

Me too getting the same probelem. Instead of doing all configuration correctly,

 

Is this probelem of sharepoint or of powerpivot

Answer 7

Hi,

I have the same problem.

I installed a fresh RTM SharePoint 2010 installation. Excel Services working fine but I get always the same simple icon to identify my Powerpivot workbooks.

I have not found any clue about GetSnapshot.exe on my ULS logs. I found this program in two paths:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\bin\GetSnapshot.exe

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\9383\bin\GetSnapshot.exe

Sometimes, I have seen png files in C:\Windows\Temp\Excel Server\FileCache\7a0437c1-f3c9-43f1-8021-d3427a0dddfb\Images, but not always. Never I have seen *.INFO files under the path C:\Windows\Temp\...

When I upload a Powerpivot workbook to my SharePoint Server I review ULS Logs but I don't find any referred to GetSnapshot.exe

Could you give me some instructions how could I check Getsnapshot.exe manually.

Thanks a lot.

 

Answer 8

 

 

Can you you find and reference to GetSnapshot.exe on ULS?

If you use a tool such as http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ULSViewer for monitoring the ULS logs, the GetSnapshot.exe should be referenced both in the Process column and in the Message body.

This process is triggered when an workbook is uploaded to the PowerPivot Gallery or when there are changes to the workbook hosted there. Can you upload a new workbook while monitoring the ULS logs and check whether it shows up? If it does, but not thumbnail is generated, could you send me the logs?

 

Thanks,

Mariano

Answer 9

Thanks Mariano for your answer.

Certainly, I don't see any reference to GetSnapshot.exe on my ULS Logs. I'm looking for it in the search field of SharePoint LogViewer.

I do this searching just after uploading a new PowerPivot document to my PP gallery (and refreshing ULS logs).  Then I just see a simple icon, however, I see a new png file in C:\Windows\Temp\Excel Server\FileCache\7a0437c1-f3c9-43f1-8021-d3427a0dddfb\Images.

Is there any way to check GetSnapshot.exe manually?

Thanks again and kind regards.

 

Answer 10

Wow! Finally, I could find how to fix this problem.

Under Home -> Site Settings -> Site Collection Administration -> Site Collection Features I found the setting "PowerPivot features Integration for Site Collections". I had this setting Deactivate, I switched it on and PP Gallery showed me its fireworks!!.

It was then when I could see the GetSnatpshot.exe utility working and I saw its tracing on my ULS Logs.

It was heavy but I could retrieve my smile again :-P

Good luck with yours.

Answer 11

Can you all confirm that solves your problems too?

---

Mariano Teixeira Neto Analysis Services SQL Server BI Microsoft Corp.

Answer 12

 

 

I wrote a short blog post on refresing powerpivot gallery thumbnails that you may find useful.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mtn/archive/2010/10/15/how-to-manually-refresh-powerpivot-gallery-thumbnails.aspx

 

hth,

Mariano

---

Mariano Teixeira Neto Analysis Services SQL Server BI Microsoft Corp.

Answer 13

Thanks sonfrau! This fixed my issue I was having with GetSnapshot.exe not firing at all when it was supposed to.  Now it works perfectly.

Answer 14

Hi Mariano,

   I took am having the same issue with this. I cannot get the ULM logs to make any reference to getsnapshot.exe whatsoever. I've checked the PowerPivot features Integration for Site Collections in the site collection features, but it's currently activated? I've been struggling with this for days now, and I'm hoping someone here was able to get this to work (since this post is older)

 

Hope you can help!

Chris

Answer 15

Same situation here. Microsoft guys should look into this issue and it looks like a bug.

Answer 16

Found a link http://blogs.msdn.com/b/senthilkumarmani/archive/2011/05/19/powerpivot-for-sharepoint-generating-thumbnails-preview-issue.aspx which says thumbnails appear only if document is loaded in IE8.

I was using IE 9 so went into compatability mode of IE8 , refreshed the browser , went to PowerPivot Gallery and added a new spreadsheet. I could see HourGlass and through ULS Viewer could see GetSnapShot.exe getting executed.

After a while all the thumbnails were there !!!.

Changed the compatability mode of browser from IE8 to IE9 back , deleted existing worksheet and added a new one, this time again hour glass came up and the thumbnails appread after a short period of time.

Please do share your experiences.

Answer 17

Hello All,

We recently experienced a similar issue and it turns out this can happen when IE 9 is installed on Farm servers and PowerPivot is not patched to Service Pack 1.  The following blog has more information about it and the fix worked in our case:

http://thesharespace.info/post/2012/04/11/What-happened-my-PowerPivot-workbook-thumbnails!.aspx

---

-Chopps

Answer 18

I am having the same issue.  Using IE8 with PowerPivot SP1 installed on a new 2-server SharePoint 2010 farm, no thumbnails are rendering.   I get the hourglass images we are all familiar with:

When I select Open in Excel I get an error:

Answer 19

On others I get this:

Answer 20

Hi,

Does anyone have a solution for making it work on Windows 8 with IE 10 ? 
I'm still unable to see the GetSnapshot.exe running, though it works fine when ran from PowerShell.

Thank you.

Answer 21

In my case it was IE7 installed on SharePoint 2010 server. Once upgraded to IE8, the red X has gone.

http://leonidius2010.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/sharepoint-2010-and-powerpivot-2-errors/

Answer 22

Hi,

I am running Windows 8 and IE10

Screenshot of PowerPivot Gallery Big Data Powerview Report logged in as an Owner with Administrative Permissions.

Screenshot of PowerPivot Gallery Dealership Sales Powerview Report

 

 

-Ivan

---

Ivan Sanders My LinkedIn , My Blog, @iasanders, BI in SP2013, SP2013 Content Packs.

Answer 23

Hi Ivan,

I was trying to implement my powerpivot reports with specific gallery/view/look & feel which you have display in your above posted.

How can I do that? Can you please help me out?

Thanks

Kumar

---

Please do let us know your feedback. Thank You - KG, MCTS